Top & or bottom poppet: Smoke results?

[jjdbike]

Hello folks,

While I'd love to have a nice old school offset smoker, I just don't have the space to store one, especially one with the capacity of the KBQ.

I do love and enjoy the KBQ, though I do wish the smoke box was bigger.

I enjoy Jirby of Goldeee BBQ and appreciate how he challenges old school beliefs / traditions. He inspired me to experiment with the smoke poppets. My last few smokes, bite with red oak, and with apple, I have left both poppets wide open. I was pleasantly surprised. While there was noticeably more smoke flavor and color, there was by no means any hints of foul, acrid, sooty or overly smoked flavor.

I am wondering if any of you have noticed the same. Have any of you experienced any negative consequences or distasteful flavor form leaving both poppets open?

Respectfully,
JD

[jeffdavidson]

Agreed. I always leave both poppets wide open every time these days. Different people prefer different flavors but we are enjoying the results of this method.

[Spinaker]

I always run mine with the poppets wide open. I like the uptick in smoke flavor. It is never acrid or anything like that. The KBQ just does the work!

[Dr. Pepper]

Yea, what Spinaker says!
Remember what Bill Karau explains: choking off oxygen supply to control temp is what creates foul smoke, creosote.

Bill's brilliant breakthrough concept was to separate:
1. Temp Control (controlled by the thermostat 'call' for hot air and gases to be pulled down through the back shaft to the baffles)

from:

2. Fuel Combustion, which has unlimited air (oxygen) supplies. There is no limiting air supply to the fire box.
The poppets either pull very clean smoke from the top, or super duper clean smoke from the bottom poppet (where the gases have passed through the coal bed equivalent of a catalytic convertor.)

So, have at it, either way.

[jjdbike]

Yea, what Spinaker says!
Remember what Bill Karau explains: choking off oxygen supply to control temp is what creates foul smoke, creosote.

Bill's brilliant breakthrough concept was to separate:
1. Temp Control (controlled by the thermostat 'call' for hot air and gases to be pulled down through the back shaft to the baffles)

from:

2. Fuel Combustion, which has unlimited air (oxygen) supplies. There is no limiting air supply to the fire box.
The poppets either pull very clean smoke from the top, or super duper clean smoke from the bottom poppet (where the gases have passed through the coal bed equivalent of a catalytic convertor.)

So, have at it, either way.

Thanks for the confirmations / affirmations?
Dr. P, thanks for the brilliant and concise explanation!
JD

[TripleB]

Funny, I wish I knew about the KBQ before I bought my Jambo offset. I can get 5 turkeys on my Jambo, but really, the KBQ is a better offset.

[Dieter 99]

I've been struggling to get consistently noticeable smoke flavor, even using only the top poppet. For the first several cooks I was using either both poppets or bottom only and then started to hammer the top poppet for the last half dozen or so. I assume I am making a dumb mistake somewhere so I'd love some help.

I'm using seasoned white oak (seasoned roughly 10 months now, not kiln dried), moisture content after splitting down to KBQ size ranges from 15-35ish using a cheap meter on the freshly cut side, and the meat is always at refrigerator temp when it hits the pit. The food is always tender, juicy, etc, but the smoke flavor ranges from "perfect" to non-existent with basically no in between. For example, my last cook was pork shoulder on Labor Day weekend, top poppet only for 4 hours then both poppets for the duration, unwrapped the entire cook...and it tasted like it was sitting in a crock pot all day.

I am trying to figure out if I'm doing something stupid, or if the issue is with the wood. I try to use the drier wood only when I need to replenish the coal bed quickly, but the last pork shoulder I made a point to use only the wetter wood. Now I admit to having a cheap moisture meter, and maybe I don't even know how to use it lol, but I also don't think I need to be thinking about this in terms of 5% one way or the other being a difference maker necessarily.

Anyway, I'd love some insight as to what I'm missing, or the best way for me to go about my next couple cooks to tweak the variables so I can figure out what I'm doing correctly and incorrectly.

[Johnny Booth]

Just a thought. When I smoke all day, my ability to smell the smoke on the food fades. I take a shower and change clothes when the meat is resting to get the smoke out of my system. Ask others if they taste/smell the smoke on the food. Maybe it’s just that you’ve been ‘soaking’ in smoke?

[Dieter 99]

I'll definitely make a point to do this next time, appreciate the thought. Hoping to fire it up again next weekend and will give it a go